Scripted/Automated Installs for DOS CD-ROM games (e.g. Id's DEICE) \ VOGONS

Scripted/Automated Installs for DOS CD-ROM games (e.g. Id's DEICE)

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First post, by themadhatter0

Posted on 2021-01-06, 04:09

themadhatter0 Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: 2021-01-06, 04:00

Does anyone have any experience with attempting to script or automate game installs for things like Id's DEICE (Doom, Heretic, Hexen)?

I've been playing around with putting DOS games (with DOSBox) in a Docker container so that when the container starts, it runs the game automatically, sort of like the experience with streaming games over at archive.org. I was hoping to script the installation so that I can build the container image on the fly. For simple games which do not have an installer, this is pretty straightforward: source the game, stuff it in the container, and add a dosbox conf file to autoexec the game.
But, this is a bit more difficult in games that came on a CD and which must be installed (e.g. Warcraft, Warcraft II, Heretic, Hexen) before they can be run.

Any thoughts on how one might pull this off?

Cheers!

Reply 1 of 1, by doshea

Posted on 2021-02-18, 01:31

doshea Offline

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Rank: Member
Posts: 425
Joined: 2009-05-22, 09:37
Location: Australia

This sounds nice! I've been working on doing something similar for OSes (DOS, Windows 3.1/3.11, Windows 9x/Me) plus their drivers. It's meant trying to find AutoHotkey-alikes, or in the case of Windows 95 RTM, just hacking AutoHotkey itself.

I haven't tried automating those particular installers, but I have automated the Sound Blaster 16 installer. I used the "SCANCODE" tool from http://bretjohnson.us/ That guy is probably most famous for developing some fancy USB UHCI TSR drivers.

Here is my working batch file for the SB16 install:

1REM Use SCANCODE From bretjohnson.us for installing Sound Blaster drivers.
2REM Note that the "A WORD FROM THE SPONSOR" section of SCANCODE.DOC 5.00
3REM restricts redistribution without prior permission.
4
5scancode WaitForText 16,9 "To install the Audio Software now, press ENTER", Enter
6scancode WaitForText 6,7 "The following path will be used for installing the Audio Software", Enter
7scancode WaitForText 6,7 "The following settings will be used for installing the Audio Software", Enter
8scancode WaitForText 6,5 "The following lines will be added to your system files", Enter
9
10REM It's 'If "Backup" is selected..." but I don't know how to escape quotes:
11scancode WaitForText 16,31 "is selected, the backup file will be", Enter, Repeat
12scancode WaitForText 6,6 "Software installation completed", F10
13
14install
15
16REM In case the installer was exited without rebooting:
17scancode /uninstall

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